1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera for shooting a movie picture and a still picture, and in particular, to a movie video camera configured in a unit together with a still camera using a silver-halide type of photographic film.
2. Description of the Prior Act
There has been a requirement to record a particular scene in the form of a still picture during a shooting operation of a television camera having a function to record a movie picture on a video tape, so called video camera.
Conventionally, a still camera using a silver-halide film and a separate video camera using a video tape are carried about in such a case where when a scene suitable for a still picture appears during a shooting of the video camera, the operation of the video camera is interrupted to take the still picture by use of the still camera. In this situation, two units have to be used and in the shooting of the still camera, the operation of the video camera is required to be interrupted, which leads to a disadvantage that an important shooting chance may be lost.
To solve the problem above, there is desired a camera for shooting a movie picture and a still picture configured in a single unit including a combination of a still camera and a video camera such that a still picture can be taken through an operation of the still camera without interrupting the shooting operation of the video camera.
Such a camera, with consideration to portability thereof, is desired to be configured such that when a unit shooting a still picture and a unit to take a video picture are combined, the overall contour thereof is smooth in the surfaces thereof as compared with an ordinary camera and that operating or handling means of the still camera unit and the video camera unit can be appropriately and readily manipulated by two hands or by a single hand.
Furthermore, the still camera unit is provided with an opening through which a film is loaded, namely, a cartridge (Patrone) loaded with a film is installed through the opening into the still camera unit, which advantageously enables a so-called drop-in loading of a film in effect. Consequently, the still camera unit has an opening for the film loading formed in an upper surface or a bottom surface thereof, and after a film is loaded, a cap member covers the opening; whereas in a film loading operation, the cap member is removed from the opening so as to effect a drop-in loading of the film cartridge. As a consequence, a camera in which a still camera unit and a video camera unit are integrally combined with each other has to be designed such that the cap member of the still camera unit can be opened to the backward direction thereof with a space reserved for the cap opening operation, which leads to a problem that the size of the camera cannot be minimized.